A small fire broke out at the old Bethlehem Steel blast furnace near the ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem on Wednesday night. Damage was minor and no one was hurt. The fire was reported about 4:55 p.m. a half block north of the ArtsQuest Center at Third Street and Founders Way. Bethlehem firetrucks rushed to the scene and doused the flames. "They were doing some maintenance work down there and a torch — some of the cuttings, the hot metal —came in contact with some wood and some grease near a small electrical unit on the ground," city Fire Marshall Robert W. Novatnack said.

Officials at the Episcopal House, an Allentown apartment high-rise that's marketed to older residents, are working to restore service to an elevator that has not been working since a small fire early Sunday morning. The fire began 1:30 a.m. Sunday in a 10th-floor utility closet and was quickly extinguished by the sprinkler system. But the sprinklers caused water damage to the elevator and the south stair tower and utility closet in the building, according to fire Capt. John Christopher.

A wall light caught fire on a fifth-floor hallway of the Holiday Inn in downtown Allentown on Tuesday night, but the blaze was quickly extinguished. No one was hurt. City firefighters rushed to the hotel at Ninth and Hamilton streets at 6:10 p.m. Within a few minutes, the fire was put out with a dry chemical extinguisher, according to city Fire Lt. Bryce Thompsen. "It could have been worse," Thompsen said, "but we got to it right away. " The fire, which will be investigated, burned part of the wall and the floor, he said.

A Schuylkill County soldier died Monday in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan, of wounds from small-arms fire, the Department of Defense said. Capt. Jason Benjamin Jones, 29, of Orwigsburg, was assigned to 1 s t Battalion, 3 r d Special Forces Group (Airborne) in Fort Bragg, N.C. The Defense Department said the incident leading to Jones' death is under investigation. It was Jones' second deployment in support of Overseas Contingency Operations, according to the Army Special Forces Command.

BETHLEHEM No one was injured in a small fire in a Bethlehem apartment that closed Broadway between Wyandotte Street and Carlton Avenue for about 15 minutes shortly before noon Wednesday, authorities said. The fire at 412 Broadway was apparently caused by a malfunctioning window fan at an apartment rented by Tony Huckl, 41, on the third floor of the building, city police reported. Firefighters went to the building just after 11:45 a.m. when someone called to report smoke coming from the apartment window, said Fire Commissioner George Barkanic.

A small fire in an industrial oven brought fire crews to an Upper Nazareth Township company yesterday morning. East Lawn Fire Chief Jake Groff said crews were called to Encore Coatings, Inc., off Route 248 shortly after 10 a.m. He said a small fire had started on the coating on a pipe that had been in the oven. A small amount of oven insulation was also smoldering, he said. Company personnel essentially had the fire out, but called emergency crews to be sure, Groff said. Groff said the company coats steel pipes, beams and reinforcing rods.

BETHLEHEM Bethlehem fire crews evacuated a Lehigh University dormitory briefly Thursday morning after a small fire set off alarms, authorities said. Fire crews were called to the dormitory at 67 University Drive about 1:40 a.m. by an automatic fire alarm, officials said. University police traced the fire to the third floor, on a central stairwell, where a small fire had already been extinguished, according to authorities. Firefighters found a small pile of ashes that appeared to have been writing paper, and that had apparently been smothered by a foot, Fire Department reports said.

ALLENTOWN No one was injured in a small fire Wednesday at South Mountain Middle School, fire officials said. The Allentown Fire Department received the call about 2:20 p.m. and the fire was out by the time they arrived at the school several minutes later, fire officials said. There was a small fire in a girls locker room, an official said. Firefighters only ventilated the building once they arrived, he said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

BETHLEHEM Bethlehem fire officials are investigating the cause of a small fire Saturday in the basement of a vacant home at 62 W. Spruce St. Firefighters responded at 3 p.m. and doused the blaze before it had a chance to spread. The building, owned by Peter Kemmerer of Bethlehem Township, had been vacant for a day. The tenants had moved out of the building Friday after being evicted, city police said.

A small fire in a Bethlehem convent Tuesday night caused $400 damage and required city firefighters to clear two floors of smoke, fire officials said. The fire in the convent of Notre Dame of Bethlehem Church in the 1800 block of Catasauqua Road was reported shortly before 9 p.m. A light that was knocked accidently against a bed in a second-floor bedroom caused the fire, officials said. Heat from the light eventually ignited the mattress and springs, officials said. Firefighters left the scene about 9:20 p.m. No injuries were reported.

Nearly 2,000 Allentown homes and businesses lost power late Thursday after a fire broke out at the top of a utility pole on the city's south side, according to police radio reports. The trouble was reported 11:55 p.m. in the 700 block of Filmore Street, where a small fire was sparked when a tree branch leaned on power lines near a utility pole. Fire officers radioed the fire was out when they arrived at the scene at midnight, but the lights were out. It wasn't clear the fire caused the mass outage.

A small fire broke out in the attic of the main dining hall of Daniels Top-O-The Poconos mountain resort in Canadensis, Barrett Township, Monroe County, on Saturday evening. The fire appeared to have started in a ventilation fan and spread to the blown insulation in the attic space, according to Barrett Township Fire Chief Grover Cleveland. No one was inside the building at the time of the fire. Responding firefighters from Barrett Township were forced to pull sections of the ceiling down to ensure that smoldering insulation was extinguished.

A fire gutted a home in Freemansburg on Sunday evening. Manny Bermeo saw flames leaping from the second floor of 346 Somerset St., which is behind his home, sometime after 6 p.m. Bermeo said he and another man ran to the back of the burning home, kicked in a door and attempted to see if any one was still inside. No one was home. Bermeo said there had been a small fire at another home on Somerset Street earlier on Sunday. "It was full of smoke," Bermeo, 24, said.

A small fire Sunday morning at the A&N Diner & Family Restaurant in Sellersville has the owners and staff racing to reopen in time for Thanksgiving dinner. Manager Diane Marquardt said the restaurant made plans for the first time this year to put on a free Thanksgiving meal for 200 people who are in need, homeless or just have no one to spend with whom to spend the holiday. Now, Marquardt said, they're hopeful they can make the necessary repairs in time to reopen on Thanksgiving.

A series of loud booms shook several Salisbury Township residents from their beds Sunday night after two tires on a nearby tanker truck exploded. The truck, which was exiting Interstate 78 at Cedar Crest Boulevard shortly before 11 p.m., overheated its brake system, causing a small fire, said Officer Kevin Johnson of the Salisbury Township Police Department. The fire burst two of the truck's tires, he said. The driver of the truck, who was not identified, was able to put out the blaze with a fire extinguisher before crews arrived, avoiding a larger fire, Johnson said.

Authorities have identified an Allentown man found dead after a fire Wednesday evening at his home. Anthony F. Suida, 58, was pronounced dead around 8:45 p.m. in his home at 847 N. Jerome St., according to a news release from the Lehigh County coroner's office. The coroner has not released Suida's cause and manner of death, pending toxicology results. Coroner Scott Grim said Suida's death was not related to the fire. City fire Chief Robert Scheirer said Suida was the only person who lived at the home.

A small fire started yesterday in the chimney of an Easton garage at 155 Bushkill Drive, causing about $100 worth of damage. According to Easton Fire Officials, the fire started when a pipe, which connected a wood stove to the chimney, overheated and ignited dried wood in the stove. The fire was confined to a piece of wood on the rafter and was extinguished in about 10 minutes. The property is owned by John Durnin, fire officials said. No one was in the garage when the fire started.

Allentown firefighters found a man dead in his East Side home Wednesday night after putting out a fire there. Fire investigators said the man may have died hours before the blaze. City fire Chief Robert Scheirer said the man was believed to be the lone resident of the house at 847 N. Jerome St. Lehigh County records show Anthony Suida, 58, as the owner and resident of the home. Investigators were trying to determine whether the man died as long as a day before the 7:50 p.m. fire started.

Fire broke out in the rear of a row house and spread to five other homes in the 1100 block of N. Catasauqua Avenue early Sunday morning, firefighters said. The blaze, which erupted about 2:30 a.m., forced 14 people out of their homes, and some expressed disbelief that what appeared to be a small fire on the back porch of one home quickly ravaged the others. None of the residents were injured, but one firefighter suffered an injured shoulder when he slipped on a wet floor, Allentown fire Chief Robert Scheirer said.